They drag themselves into class with hooded eyes, clutching cups of coffee, cellphones and each other in a weary, lugubrious manner, as if to warn me not to expect too much of them. Because they’re, like, “so tired, hey.” Exhausted. Today in class one girl yawned (at the risk of sending you to sleep, I would just like to point out here that ‘yawn’ in all Sotho languages is edimola and in Xhosa and Zulu zamla and zamula) so much I thought she was listening to a political speech. When I ask these exhausted, drained, pooped students what they like to do over the weekend, their favourite reply is to (wearily) advance their preference: Sithanda ukulala. (Xhosa and Zulu for “We like to sleep.”) What happened to youthful exuberance?!

Wake up!

If only they would get the oomph to do their homework, they would realise that talking about sleeping and exhaustion in African languages is paradoxically energising and entertaining! So while the African language words for the verb ‘sleep’ are standard (Sotho languages: robala; Nguni languages: lala), there are other expressions that suggest that there is so much more to sleep in Africa than just putting your head on a pillow and ‘zzzzzzzz-ing’. Interesting to see how similar the word for ‘snore’ is for our South African languages: ona (North Sotho), hona (South Sotho and Zulu), gona (Tswana), rhona (Xhosa). I think if we were giving a prize for onomatopoeic verbs, the Xhosa rhona would win – it has a very snore-like pronunciation! (Remember, the ‘rh’ in Xhosa is pronounced a little like the Afrikaans ‘g’.) ‘GGGGGGoooooonnnnnaaaaaa!’

‘Twas the dawn that did it

Let’s stay awake by marvelling at the notion of ‘oversleeping’, for example. In African languages, you do not overdo the sleeping at all. No, hayi bo! What happens is that the day dawns to your detriment, i.e. while you are still fast asleep, the implication being that the sun should have waited for you to wake up before it did its rising. Thus, it is not the sleeping that should be emphasised or even mentioned. What is important is the fact that the day has dawned to your disadvantage. Like, too early for the amount of sleep that you needed to have.

Thus: Ndiselwe and Ngiselwe (figuratively: ‘I have overslept’ in Xhosa and Zulu). Let me break it down for you. Ndi-/Ngi- means ‘I’. The verb – s – is ‘dawn’. The extension – el – is used here to mean ‘to the detriment of ’ when used with the passive – we.

Thus literally: I have been dawned for to my detriment. A North Sotho speaker agreed with this interpretation of mine, the slight difference in that language being that O setše (‘You overslept’) means the dawn fell on you while you were sleeping.

Is translation tiring?

Insomnia is also referred to in this indirect way, as something that happens to you. Thus, the Xhosa say Ndiphuthelwe when they have insomnia, which literally means ‘I have been failed [by sleep] to my detriment’.

The issue of getting tired in Xhosa and Zulu could confuse you enough to make you exhausted. You see, khathala in Xhosa means ‘care for’, but in Zulu it means ‘get tired’. So the Zulu woman’s gentle command Mus’ ukukhathala, mntanam (‘Do not get tired, my child’) would mean ‘Do not care, my child’ to a Xhosa speaker. But it makes you think, doesn’t it? Caring too much makes you fret, which can stop you sleeping! So ‘Try not to get worried, everything’s alright, we want you to sleep well tonight’. And uzolala kamnandi! (Xhosa and Zulu for ‘You will sleep well!’)

When Xhosa speakers are really tired, they think of sugar cane bending in the wind: Andidinwanga, ndiyimfe. (‘I am so tired I am a sugar cane.’) The image of the sugar cane is used because it looks like its head or top is lolling sleepily in the wind.

We speak beautifully – even in our sleep!

As my students are all so tired, I am going to ask them to think about other images of weary nature that could make them describe their exhaustion more adequately than ‘I am so tired’. Or are we just a worn-out ‘na-eishon’, with no new ideas? No, I think if we sleep on it, we will see we have a unique and enthusiastic way of looking at the world. Even when that world is fast asleep, so beautifully expressed in Xhosa as: Ilele cum (‘It is intensely asleep’).

]]>https://www.ieducation.co.za/getting-to-grips-with-our-languages-12/feed/1Vuleka SSB High School: the best results everhttps://www.ieducation.co.za/vuleka-ssb-high-school-the-best-results-ever/
https://www.ieducation.co.za/vuleka-ssb-high-school-the-best-results-ever/#commentsWed, 25 Jun 2014 07:55:52 +0000http://www.ieducation.co.za/?p=4493The 2013 matric class of Vuleka SSB High School achieved a total of 55 distinctions – the best matric results in the Matric Centre’s 14-year history.

For many independent schools, these results are not uncommon and are usually expected by teachers and parents. But what makes these particular results so extraordinary is the fact that they were achieved in the face of a merger with Vuleka School in June last year, which of necessity involved curriculum changes and administrative and financial restructuring.

The aim of the partnership was not only to provide the Johannesburg community and surrounding townships with an affordable first-class education for pupils from Grade 000 right through to matric, but also because it was important to SSB to be part of a bigger organisation as well as the Anglican diocese.

From Vuleka’s perspective, because of the number of failing state schools,1 the partnership with SSB High School means it can now offer a good high school for its primary school children to attend at the end of Grade 7.

A significant presence and past

Vuleka had its origins as a junior primary bridging school that aimed to prepare students for entry into a more effective educational system. From 2001, it took the decision to grow and include Grade 7. Today, in addition to Vuleka SSB, Vuleka runs three primary schools (Grade 0 to Grade 7), three preprimary schools (Grade 000 to Grade 00) and an Assisted Learning Centre in the greater Johannesburg area.

Sekolo Sa Borokgo (SSB) High School was opened in 1993 in Randburg, Johannesburg, with 28 pupils, by Anne Nettleton and Sonja van der Leur, because apartheid laws prohibited nonwhite students from attending good public schools. SSB’s Matric Centre history started in 1993 with an adult school programme that offered evening classes in basic education. In 1998, a parttime school was opened, which enabled failed students to rewrite matric with appropriate educational support. Most students were in their 20s or 30s, and many of them only took the subjects that they had failed before and which they needed to pass the Senior Certificate. Part-time staff members were used, some teaching at both the middle school and Matric Centre.

AEC, Zenex and ISASA lend helping hands In 2001, the Zenex Foundation – which provides financial resources to disadvantaged learners, teachers and schools in the fields of mathematics, science and language education – partnered with SSB on a pilot project and offered scholarships for Grade 10 and 11 learners with potential in maths and physical science. In 2002, a group of SSB Grade 10 pupils, consisting mainly of scholarship students, moved to its Matric Centre and, in 2003, the first group of SSB students wrote the National Senior Certificate final examinations. SSB was finally running a full high school, taking students from Grade 8 through to matric.

Vuleka SSB High School worked closely with the Alexandra Education Committee (AEC) and the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (ISASA) Maths and English Programme and Student Sponsorship Programme to achieve its matric results in 2013.2

The AEC raises funds for bursaries to provide quality secondary education for boys and girls from the township of Alexandra in Johannesburg. The organisation also selects children from primary schools in Alexandra affected by poverty and places them in leading high schools. The ISASA Maths and English Programme and Student Sponsorship Programme also give bursaries for pupils to study at schools with a reputation for delivering quality schooling. It’s onward and upward for all at Vuleka and Vuleka SSB!

2. The Alexandra Education Committee was established in 1996 by Deane Yates, who initially in his private capacity sought children living in Alexandra whose results at primary school level were impressive. (Sources: http://www.alexeducation.org.za/ and http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/caseexamples/ overview-africa/alexandra-township.html.) To learn more about the Zenex Foundation’s involvement in education and the ISASA programmes mentioned in this article, see: http://www.zenexfoundation.org.za/evaluation-and-researchreports/ isasa-mae-project, http://www.sanews.gov.za/southafrica/ more-teachers-be-trained-maths-science and www.isasa.org.

My journey to establishing the first Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS) AFRICA School in South Africa began in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the US.

There, I was director of an education consulting company called Circle of Courage Mentoring Programme (COCMP). The COCMP curriculum provided school districts with evidence-based interventions for learners (and their parents/guardians) engaging in at-risk and high-risk behaviours. The courage to use COCMP ‘At-risk’ learners were defined as those performing below the 25% margin on district assessments and common grade level assessments. ‘High-risk’ learners were defined as those performing below the 10% margin on the same assessments. The COCMP curriculum was designed to help learners overcome behavioural challenges through small-group and one-on-one mentoring. Application of this curriculum provided schools with an effective way to implement PBIS, which is the only approach to addressing youth misbehaviour that is specifically mentioned in US law. PBIS in America is the law.1 It is a research-based framework and/or strategy, not a curriculum or programme. While school districts are required to comply with PBIS legislation, many districts struggle to do so. The COCMP curriculum helped schools document their journeys effectively.

A meeting of minds

While visiting South Africa in 2011, I talked to numerous teachers and principals, and discovered a need for PBIS here. In 2012, I was introduced to Melanie Sharland, managing director of Vuleka SSB High School, at a talk I gave for educators. Founded 25 years ago with 59 children and four classes, Vuleka is a highly regarded independent school that provides excellent, holistic and affordable education for children from pre-primary to matric. Sharland and her teaching team decided to test the COCMP programme at Vuleka during the last term of 2012. We used the COCMP curriculum to introduce school staff to the core ideas and practices of a new model called PBIS AFRICA. As a result of the positive impact the programme had on teachers, learners and parents, in 2013, Vuleka became the first school in South Africa to implement what is now known as PBIS AFRICA.

Sharland’s visionary leadership provided me with an opportunity to work with her staff to establish Vuleka as a National Demonstration School Site (NDSS) for PBIS AFRICA. Researchers from America have expressed great interest in learning from Vuleka by exploring ways to train teachers to deal effectively with behavioural issues, the primary focus of PBIS AFRICA.

Research has shown that teachers’ actions in their classrooms are significantly more impactful on learner achievement than school policies regarding curriculum, assessment, staff collegiality and community involvement.2 Numerous studies have also confirmed that teachers who have high-quality relationships with their learners have fewer discipline problems and rule violations than those who do not have high-quality relationships.3 PBIS AFRICA does not leave teacher-learner relationships to chance. In addition, at Vuleka, family involvement has played an important role in the successful implementation of PBIS AFRICA.

We found that our efforts to develop meaningful opportunities for parents/guardians to get involved in school activities resulted in their children doing better academically. And by strengthening home-school partnerships, we not only provided additional academic support for learners, we also created important community and cultural connections for Vuleka’s school staff.

A closer look

The following is a list of the key features that have been implemented successfully at Vuleka: A common vision/values, purpose and approach to discipline throughout the school:
• Establishing a school-wide discipline policy that staff and parents support.
• Training staff to use consistent methods of teaching the behavioural expectations and responding to misbehaviour.

A small number of positively stated behavioural expectations for all learners:
• Teaching three to five positively stated school-wide behavioural expectations, which are discussed and reinforced every day in each classroom and throughout the school.

A continuum of procedures for encouraging expected behaviour:
• Using practices such as Morning Check-in, an example of expectation creation with learners.
• Teaching, modelling, practising and reinforcing/roleplaying with the whole class.
• Using further teaching, modelling, practising and reinforcing/role-playing and individual written agreements with teachers and learners who need more intensive support.
• Doing group reflection activities, such as talking circles and musical/theatrical presentations.

A continuum of procedures for discouraging inappropriate behaviour:
• Responding to misbehaviour with positive redirecting teacher language and corrective consequences.
• Using collaborative problem-solving strategies, such as class meetings with the whole class or small groups and problem-solving conferences with individuals.

Ongoing evaluation of effectiveness:
• Observing learners, reflecting on the success of practices, and adjusting the programme implementation process accordingly.
• Using the PBIS AFRICA’s school-wide and classroom assessments to collect data on the use of specific strategies.

A whole-school strategy for the whole country

Vuleka School is committed to implementing high-quality, scientifically validated instructional practices based on learner needs, monitoring learner progress and adjusting instruction based on learner response. If you would like to turn your concerns about education in South Africa into positive actions, join the PBIS AFRICA movement. We believe it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

Herzlia School was established in 1940 and today has 10 campuses for 2 100 pupils from preschool through to Grade 12. The school serves both the Jewish and wider community of Cape Town.

Iam proud of the fact that today each campus is fully inclusive, enrolling pupils with a wide variety of learning, emotional and physical challenges. Inclusive education is a developmental approach seeking to address the learning needs of all children, with a specific focus on those who are vulnerable to marginalisation and exclusion. It means that the school seeks to provide a good education to all pupils, irrespective of their varying abilities. All children are treated with respect and ensured equal opportunities to learn together. One of the most important lessons I have learned in my years as an educator is the fact that schools are a microcosm of society.

Teaching with care and caution

In any community – geographical, cultural or religious – there will be a variety of individuals’ strengths and weaknesses. If we take a cross-section of any community, one will find in its members medical conditions, learning disabilities, emotional traumas, developmental disabilities and physical disabilities. No community exists that is perfect, and we should teach this to our children at an early age. It is thus logical that in any given school population, a percentage of children will require some sort of support to navigate the demands of school or to have a meaningful educational experience tailored to their needs.

It is therefore my strong belief that schools must identify the required support, provide the required support, manage the cases requiring support and support the teachers who are teaching mixed ability classes. Teachers will naturally realise that they are teaching mixed ability classes and will need to structure their lessons accordingly, valuing the needs of all pupils.

It is clear to me that children need to be with each other, rather than separated from each other. Children who learn together, learn to live together. This is even truer when these children are part of a natural community, such as those attending Herzlia. Being part of a community gives a person a feeling of belonging. This, in turn, increases their self-esteem and ultimately leads to their becoming a more complete and successful individual.

All of this takes hard work and a will to succeed. The whole team has to be part of the winning formula.

Teachers have to ‘buy in’ to the concept, pupils need to understand that they will be sitting side by side with all kinds of children with all kinds of strengths and weaknesses, and the parent body has to accept that their own children will be in the same class as children with special education needs.

All these people have to take on a shared responsibility. They all have to show understanding of the needs of the individuals. They all have to acknowledge the differences that exist between individuals. A culture of tolerance and acceptance needs to be inculcated by everyone. I’m sure that most schools have students who battle either academically or socially.

I’m sure that most schools have students, for example, who excel at sport and students who just can’t or don’t want to get involved in sport. These children are already in your schools. You just have to go the next mile with them.

Herzlia inclusion programme has evolved

Herzlia’s inclusion programme was adopted in 1997 and began with just five students and one special education needs coordinator (SENCO). It has evolved into a sophisticated, fully-fledged programme run by 50 teachers, offering support at each stage of the child’s academic journey. We currently employ 21 full-time and five part-time learning support teachers, six full-time facilitators plus seven remedial staff members. This excludes another 20 teachers who are paid directly by parents.

The number of pupils requiring extensive learning support has grown from five in 1997 to 80 in 2013.

For preschoolers, the focus is on early intervention for both teachers and parents. Areas screened include speech and hearing, fine and gross motor coordination and a range of psychometric tests. A full quota of academic support on our campuses in the form of occupational therapy, physiotherapy, speech/language therapy, social and emotional support and remedial therapy is provided.

Support of the child continues into primary and middle school, where academic demands are greater – teaching assistants, modifications to the mainstream curriculum and individualised educational programmes (IEP) are all offered. In one of our primary schools and in the middle school, we have introduced an academic support class (ASC) with a dedicated staff member for severely challenged pupils, such as those with autism spectrum disorder, Down’s syndrome and cognitive limitations. Where possible, these pupils are continually integrated back into regular classes and take part in the life of the school – outdoor camps, sports days, swimming galas and cultural and religious activities.

A special vocational angle for high school

In high school, pupils are given the opportunity to select their own academic track, which includes studying towards the standard National Senior Certificate, the less demanding Endorsed Senior Certificate or the National Certificate (Vocational) (NVC). The NVC programme aims to develop pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills, as well as to provide them with career-oriented certification in the area of their choosing. The literacy and numeracy components of the vocational programme are based on adult basic education and training (ABET) principles, and are supplied to our students by a company called MediaWorks. An ABET-aligned programme allows a pupil to attain nationally recognised certification from Level 1 (most basic) through to Level 4 (a general education and training certificate equivalent).1

In addition to the vocational, literacy and numeracy components of the programme, the NVC programme also develops practical life skills in pupils, such as:

Herzlia has been granted permission by the national Department of Education to offer this programme within our mainstream school. At the core of all our inclusion programmes are our learning centres, run by a dedicated team of SENCO remedial teachers, social workers, psychologists and a range of outsourced therapists, who provide academic support from basic remediation to designing individualised education plans for pupils. Our centres are equipped with technology, learning materials and resources to support the programme. All educators are required to attend regular personal development training in the area of inclusion, through organisations such as the South African Association for Learning and Educational Differences (SAALED).2

Herzlia at the centre of wide network

Herzlia is widely regarded as a best practice model for inclusive education in South Africa. Our open enrolment policy means that our many success stories include graduated pupils with physical disabilities such as blindness, deafness and cerebral palsy; cognitive limitations; and social and emotional challenges.

Since 1997, an extensive network of professionals has been referring pupils with disabilities to Herzlia, because of our reputable programme. The high school works extensively with sheltered and supportive employment organisations to provide job-site training and employment opportunities for pupils with disabilities.

Although we are an independent Jewish school, we have broadened our network and accessibility to a wide range of governmental organisations and educational resource centres that deal specifically with individuals with disabilities.

With regards to career-based training programmes, we have partnered with INTEC College3 to deliver what it calls a ‘home-school’ programme. Herzlia acts as the oversight body for the implementation of INTEC programmes. Currently, pupils are able to choose from the following options for study:

Each of these courses is modular and requires the pupil to complete theoretical and practical components before being able to achieve certification. Throughout the course, pupils complete various work-shadow placements, which allow them to build up a network of contacts and to experience working conditions in a chosen field.

They also attend as many mainstream academic classes as possible, especially where they may overlap with their chosen INTEC course. For example, a Grade 10 pupil studying marketing South African tourism may attend the mainstream tourism and business studies classes. All pupils attend guidance, life orientation and Jewish studies classes with their mainstream peers.

Complex arrangements make for success for all

Although there are shared core components of the pupils’ programmes, each programme is specifically tailored to each pupil in terms of level of difficulty, time frame of completion and individual pupil preference. The shared belief that we need to recognise successful learning as an individual’s personal best enables us to achieve success for every pupil.

As it stands, across the Herzlia network, approximately 20% of children on each campus make use of educational support services. A further 20% make use of social and emotional support services and approximately 3% of children in the system have individual facilitators. Within the broader South African context, there are 400 000 children with disabilities, and 64 000 of these children are accommodated within special schools.5

If we take these statistics into account, what we are trying to do with the NVC programme is to establish a long-term educational and life plan for children with special needs.

By encouraging independence and functionality of these pupils, we thereby reduce the burden on the community as a whole as these individuals can become functional, productive members of society.

It is through these and similar measures that we believe that we are able to cater for a very broad spectrum of pupils, beyond what most mainstream schools are able to do. We have instituted these measures out of the conviction that while there is certainly a role for specialised schools, in accordance with trends both in the South African education system and abroad, the first choice wherever possible is to include children in the mainstream, and for them to be part of their communities in particular and mainstream society in general.

We all need assistance

In the very last paragraph of his book, Long Walk To Freedom,6 the late Nelson Mandela wrote:

“I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back at the distance I have come. But I can rest only a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger for my long walk is not yet ended.”

That first hill that I climbed was to take Herzlia on a wonderful yet difficult journey. There are so many hills to climb. With each new pupil came a new set of challenges.

It is not possible to become complacent, arrogant or smug. There is no chance at all of ‘knowing it all’. That is what makes our chosen life at Herzlia so rewarding. It reminds us that we are all human; that we are all fallible.

References:
1. See, for example: http://www.abet.co.za/.
2. See: http://www.saaled.org.za/.
3. See: http://www.intec.edu.za/.
4. The International Computer Driving License (ICDL) is a global computer literacy initiative developed to provide knowledge about information technology (IT) and enhance competence of using personal computers and common computer applications for all the citizens of the world. (Source: http://www.icdlgcc.com/about_us/index.htm).
5. See, for example: Monama, T. (2012) “Many disabled not at school.” Available at: http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2012/05/24/manydisabled-not-at-school.
6. Mandela, N.R. (1995) Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. New York: Back Bay Books.

]]>https://www.ieducation.co.za/inclusion-at-united-herzlia-schools/feed/1Autism spectrum disorder update – Part twohttps://www.ieducation.co.za/autism-spectrum-disorder-update-part-two/
https://www.ieducation.co.za/autism-spectrum-disorder-update-part-two/#respondTue, 24 Jun 2014 14:53:08 +0000http://www.ieducation.co.za/?p=4487Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) becomes apparent in children within the first three years of life and affects the young brain’s normal development of social, communication and other skills.

In late March 2014, the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) released its latest ASD survey, showing a 30% jump in eight-year-olds diagnosed with ASD since 2008.1 However, said the survey authors and other scientists, this does not mean that more children are contracting ASD, but rather that more children are being identified.

ASD students excluded

The United Kingdom-based charity Ambitious about Autism (AAA) agrees,2 and has released new data of its own. About four in 10 children in the UK with ASD are being excluded from school on a regular basis in one way or another, says the charity. AAA has called upon the British government to step up its protection of ASD and other special needs children, who are missing out on excursions and activities and even, in some cases, lessons. Forty per cent of parents interviewed for the AAA survey said that over the last year they had been called by schools to either fetch their children early or to keep their children at home. UK schools have a legal obligation to educate all children equally, but the report – part of a larger ‘Ruled Out’ campaign – found that about 60% of UK teachers and administrators feel underequipped when it came to caring for ASD students.

Tips for teachers

For schools that include ASD children, authors Brenda Smith Myles and Amy Bixler Coffin, writing for online magazine The Conversation, have useful tips.3 Each institution should provide a ‘home base’ where students with special needs can go to escape stress and regain control. Home base is a positive environment that should feature routinely in the school day. Teachers should not overemphasise the importance of handwriting with ASD students. Tablets and other digital devices can help here. Teachers should also help students to become as organised as possible, and to create routines that reinforce stability and familiarity. Just as with any child, the key to keeping an ASD student engaged and happy is to focus on a student’s skills. “Testing content before it is taught allows the teacher to find out the student’s strengths and weaknesses. The student can then take part in activities that explore their talents in greater depth,” suggest Myles and Coffin. And above all, say the two experts, teachers need to be aware of changing circumstances, and be flexible enough to deal with them.

Cut the chloride

As teachers find new ways to work with children, scientists around the world report new possibilities. Yehezkel Ben-Ari of the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm)4 heads a team that has discovered that high salt levels present in the nerve cells of newborn babies could trigger the onset of the disorder. In utero, foetuses need high chloride levels, but these are quickly lowered during delivery, controlled by oxytocin, the hormone released by the mother during labour. “Chloride levels during delivery are determinants of the occurrence of autism spectrum disorder,” proclaimed Ben-Ari in the journal Science.

The study strengthened other French research done in 2012, during which 50 ASD children aged between three and 11 years were given the diuretic drug bumetanide, which made them expel excess chloride ions in their urine. Their autistic symptoms improved during the treatment, Ben-Ari said. The experts may soon have other important clues about ASD and its causes. In Seattle, USA, at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, scientists are busy compiling an atlas of the brain.5 The latest addition is a new map of the human brain in utero. Scientists are zooming in on the neocortex, the seat of higher cognitive functioning, using a DNA microarray to measure gene activity at different stages of foetal development. This powerful tool suggests that genes active in ASDdiagnosed individuals are ‘switched on’ in the womb.

Less lipstick

And at York University in Toronto, Canada, a team has uncovered dangerous links between lipids – specifically ceramides, palmitic acids and cholesterol, used as anti-ageing agents in cosmetics – and ASD.6 Using real-time imaging microscopy, the scientists have discovered that the brain lipid called Prostaglandin E2 can change the behaviour of neural stem cells, affecting early embryonic development. The findings caused researcher Dorota Crawford – who headed up the study – to reassert the argument that the environment plays a significant factor in pregnant women and their unborn babies when it comes to the cause of ASD.

Camel cure

Anecdotal evidence of all kinds continues to play a strong role in the way that many parents are handling children with ASD. Two American mothers swear by camel milk sourced from the Middle East. Christina Adams and Zeba Khan reported their findings to Autism United Arab Emirates. In 2005, Adams published A Real Boy: A True Story of Autism, Early Intervention and Recovery,7 documenting her challenges in dealing with her son’s severe ASD symptoms, which included food intolerances and allergies, skin problems, auditory processing delay, expressive/receptive language delay and constipation. Then she heard about camel milk and its alleged restorative properties. It took Adams until 2007 to get through all the red tape and secure a prescription for frozen camel milk. It costs her US$2 000 per shipment. “The rest,” she said, “is history.” “The morning after my son ingested camel milk, he demonstrated astonishing improvement in behaviour including eye contact, communication and emotional expression,” documented Adams in the November 2013 edition of Global Advances in Health and Medicine.8 Khan also raves about the benefits of camel milk for ASD children. Other parents in similar situations, however, report no improvements.

On 16 April 2014, the Kindermusik movement celebrated its 18th year of existence in South Africa.

I discovered Kindermusik 20 years ago, when searching for a music resource to enrich the experience for a weekly playgroup I ran for my own three-year-old and her friends. My studies in music education had made me aware of the power of music to stimulate the brain and growth in many areas of childhood development. Furthermore, my own mother had raised me to believe that each day “you ought to read a good book, hear a good poem and listen to some good music!” One of Kindermusik’s earliest curricula, ‘Growing with Kindermusik’,1 was the answer to my search. It comprised a wide variety of carefully selected, newly composed and freshly arranged pieces, performed on acoustic instruments, and an experience-based approach to music teaching and learning.

I was ‘growing musically’ with my child, and the weekly playgroup with its strong musical emphasis soon became the Kindermusik class at our local school (Yellowwoods Preparatory School in Fort Beaufort in the Eastern Cape).

A musical miracle

Kindermusik is an international music and movement programme for children from birth to seven years of age. It stimulates brain development and all other aspects of early childhood growth, by equipping a child with early skills in musicianship. The programme, which originated in Germany in the late 1960s and was brought to the US in 1978, has over the past 35 years expanded its offering into 70+ countries worldwide. Kindermusik South Africa (KSA) has its headquarters in Klerksdorp, in the North West province of South Africa, and the currently 140 licensed educators in this country fall under the excellent supervision of CEO for KSA, Dr Heidi Twilley, and her assistant, Mariaan Steenkamp, who ensure ongoing training through regional partnerships and conferences. Kindermusik is based on the research of many experts in the fields of early childhood music and behaviour.2 The programme provides a variety of musical and sensory experiences to the child, in the classroom and at home, and develops skills in singing, active listening, playing age-appropriate instruments, movement and dance, creativity and, in the final phase, music literacy.

Two curricula

Kindermusik offers two curricula: one for the studio, and one for schools. The studio curriculum is designed for small groups (eight to 12 children), with parent participation in the class. Until a student turns three, a parent/caregiver accompanies them to class and the teacher facilitates musical interaction and gameplay between the adult and child. From the age of three, parents attend only the last part of a lesson, the ‘Sharing Time’, fostering the child’s emerging independence at this stage. The studio programme was Kindermusik’s first. To witness the joyous, strong emotional bond and understanding created between a parent and child, when a parent can drop their busy work schedule to dance, sing and play with their little one on a weekly basis from babyhood to the age of seven, is a very beautiful thing indeed. When all the toys of childhood are long gone, this is a gift that remains for a lifetime. The school curriculum, ‘ABC Music & Me’, was launched by Kindermusik International in 2005, in response to a need to provide quality music programmes in childcare centres and preschools. This curriculum is designed for larger groups of children, without parent participation in the class.

‘Home Materials’

Kindermusik believes that every child is musical, that every parent is the child’s most important teacher, and that the home is the most important place for learning to take root and grow. To this end, Kindermusik International has developed its unique ‘Home Materials’ (a set of materials comprising audio, story books, instruments, visuals and manipulatives) to accompany each course in both the studio and the school curriculum. Some of these materials are available digitally, whilst others are shipped to South Africa from the US in hard-copy format. These products enable the parent to ‘take the learning home’ and encourage repetition and practice of musical skills between lessons. I believe that in ‘Home Materials’ lies the power of Kindermusik to stimulate and transform the young brain.

A good beginning never ends

Kindermusik teachers bring to the classroom the unique combination of a passion for music and an interest in working with young children. Whether a young parent, a prospective music teacher or a school administrator, investing in Kindermusik is a guarantee that ‘a good beginning never ends’, and it is an opportunity that comes only once in a child’s lifetime. Everyone should experience the joy, fun and learning which music brings to life.

On 7 May 2014, South Africans went to the polls for the fifth time since the dawn of democracy in 1994, to elect a government and leaders to take us forward for the next five years.

As I looked at the political landscape to cast my ballot, I found it extremely difficult to be inspired by any of the leaders on offer for this election. Many of them seem to be self-serving and power-hungry individuals who cannot seem to see that leadership is about serving others in a compassionate and caring way, as well as acting with integrity, gentleness and decency. Where are all the leaders? As schools, we have failed our country if we have not been able to produce trailblazers who can make a meaningful difference in the world. What is happening in our ‘Beloved Country’?1
The world’s in a very bad way

Margaret Wheatley, a well-renowned academic with a particular interest in leadership, puts forward some interesting arguments as to why the world is struggling with a paucity of good leaders at this time. In her book So Far from Home: Lost and Found in Our Brave New World,2 she writes that the world is in a very bad way and suggests that there are three reasons for this.

First, she points out that the enormous technological advances that have been made have created a situation where people have become consumption-driven, opinion-centric and paranoid: “…the irresistible forces of self-making, consumerism and the internet interacted and fed on one another to begin the spiral of descent.” Wheatley points out that advertising and reality TV creates unworthy heroes to whom we aspire to imitate and who make us want ‘things’ like cars, houses, gadgets, the latest hairstyle or fashion accessory.

More for me

Similarly, Joel Stein pointed out last year in Time magazine3 that there has been a significant increase in narcissism. A person with narcissistic personality disorder is preoccupied with themselves in terms of vanity, power and prestige. Stein points out that the disorder describes in great numbers the ‘Millennial’ generation – also known as the ‘me, me, me’ generation – but affects us all. We think only about ourselves.

We record our steps on FitBit, our whereabouts on PlaceMe, use Facebook and Twitter to tell the world about ourselves and what we are doing. What we have, what we look like and the power we have, has become all-important to us. Wheatley contends: “This consumer culture of manufactured selves has left behind more than half of the Earth’s seven billion people and conscripted millions of poor people to terrible working conditions to produce what we affluent consume.” This self-obsession has also tainted many of our leaders in South Africa, who are absorbed with their own power and importance, forgetting the millions who are struggling to survive. They use the plight of the poor to garner votes and then build mansions to reflect their perceived selfimportance.

Bring back the brain

The second reason why the world is worse off than ever before, says Wheatley, is because we have become distracted from thinking clearly about what is happening in our communities by the new technologies that have come to the fore. The internet and computers are connecting people in one way, and yet true connections and real relationships are suffering. Life has become so hectic and so full of gadgets that we are becoming more distracted and disconnected. Furthermore, Wheatley points out, “… as we surfed, clicked and linked on the net, discovering things that interest us, we didn’t notice that we were losing fundamental human capacities such as memory, meaning, making and thinking. We were paying a terrible price to everything, but we were too distracted to even notice.” Not only are we losing our ability to relate, we are also losing our ability to think critically.

Command and control

Third, notes Wheatley: “Twentieth-century leaders built corporate empires, organisations too big to lead. Inherently unmanageable by virtue of size and complexity, inherently meaningless by virtue of work reduced to disassociated part, these behemoths were ill prepared for this new world of rapid change and unpredictability.” The rising complexities and the sizes of our organisations have meant that leadership has gone back to leading by the more autocratic means of ‘command and control’. Even though leaders are aware of servant leadership models, they find it far easier under these complex circumstances to tell others what and how to do things, instead of trying to empower them.

These three issues have created the following global conditions, says Wheatley:

“…a world of intensifying emotions and positions moving to extremes, where anger has become rage, opponents have become enemies, dislike has become hatred, sorrow has become despair. It is a world closing shut, where individuals, groups, ethnicities, and governments fortify their positions behind impermeable boundaries. It is a world where critical thinking scarcely exists, where there is no distinction between facts and opinions. It is a world that discredits science as mere opinion, yet still wants science to give us health, long life, security and a way out of our problems. It is a world where information no longer makes a difference, where we hear only what we want to hear, always confirmed not contradicted. It is a world desperate for certainty and safety, choosing coercion and violence as the means to achieve this. It is a world solving its crises by brinkmanship and last minute deals, no matter how important or disastrous the consequences may be. It is a tower of Babel, everybody shouting and nobody listening. It is a world growing more meaningless as lives are taken over by values of consumption, greed, and self-interest. It is a world of people who had been effective and constructive now feel powerless and exhausted. It is a world whose growth, garbage and disregard will not be tolerated by the planet much longer.”

Where are the warriors?

This new world that we live in, which has arisen out of the Industrial Revolution and the Information Age, has resulted in us becoming fearful and unsure of most things. When the going gets tough, we tend to retreat into our private worlds. It is easier to look after oneself and those closest to us; to ‘feather our own nests’.

Our potential leaders have withdrawn from the public domain, instead of asking the difficult questions. Thus, caveat emptor, or as Edmund Burke put it: “Evil flourishes when good men do nothing.”4 Our schools have a responsibility to produce leaders of the future, who are able to think outside of themselves, to fight for the vulnerable in our society and to guide us with integrity. The missions of most schools today are to ensure that each child becomes the best they can be. However, this kind of purpose feeds into the narcissistic vision of the world described by Stein and Wheatley. Our children must come to understand that the education they have received is a privilege, and that they have a responsibility to fix this very broken world.

Wheatley issues a call for warriors who will act with gentleness, decency and bravery. I would add compassion and caring. Compassion comprises of two aspects. In order for someone to demonstrate compassion, they have to become aware of the plight of the other. Once this happens, they will then be in a position to care and to do.

Schools must stand up

One of the simplest ways we can teach our children to respect and to love instead of acting in a bigoted, selfish or discriminatory manner is to concentrate our efforts on inculcating manners. Manners are the things we do that show we respect and care for other people. We also need to ensure that our youth has the courage to stand up for what is right and protect those who are vulnerable. When someone is being bullied, they need to have the courage to say something or do something to help the victim.

If we ‘grow’ empathy with as much vigour as we seek to ‘grow’ the economy, I believe we will be able to fix the many broken things in this country. We are all in desperate need of going back to solid values and principles to anchor us in this turbulent world. How did you use the general election on 7 May 2014? Did you use it as a ‘teachable moment’? Did you take stock of where you as a school leader, administrator or teacher stand in relation to leadership in our country? Did you seize the opportunity to pledge to grow our children to serve others? Do it again, today.

South Africa’s inability to create equal education opportunities for all her children remains one of the greatest challenges of our fledgling democracy.

While great efforts have been made to redress past inequalities in our political and business environments, the goal of providing a worthwhile and equal education for all has not yet been achieved.1 Teacher shortages and lack of community leadership in South Africa have reached epidemic levels,2 affecting not only the quality of education that our children receive, but also their ability to develop to their full potential and play their part in ensuring the ongoing success of our democracy. All South African schools, private and public alike, have been adversely affected by the dearth of good teachers.

Taking action

St John’s College in Houghton and Masibambane College in Orange Farm3 have decided to take action. In 2013, we developed a comprehensive teacher internship programme that offers high school children from Masibambane College holistic support during their school years (particularly in matric), after which deserving candidates are offered full bursaries to study a teaching degree at the University of South Africa (Unisa) while working as interns at St John’s College.

This internship is not a social handout. The programme offers financial assistance, academic and emotional support, and quality work experience to students who are willing to go the extra mile to help themselves. The programme demands dedication and a strong work ethic, supported by the values of honesty, transparency and accountability from candidates and programme volunteers alike.

We see the programme as a worthwhile social investment: our candidates are our assets and the return on our investment is the passionate, well-trained and dedicated teachers that they will become. While we demand a sound academic performance, our main focus falls on the development of each individual. We build a close relationship with the candidates during their matric year, and through individual and group mentoring throughout their five-year involvement with the programme. We believe that this is what sets us apart from other programmes of its kind.

The internship plan

The programme runs in five-year cycles, which are divided into two parts: the matric year and the four subsequent years of Unisa studies. A new cycle starts at the beginning of each year, so that in the fifth year, five cycles will run concurrently.

• Matric year:We provide academic and emotional support to matrics so that they can achieve the best final examination results possible. Matrics are invited to apply for internship at the start of the year. While some of our initiatives are aimed only at internship participants because of funding and resource constraints, we try to adopt an inclusive approach that will benefit all Masibambane matrics where possible.

• Unisa studies (four years): We offer full bursaries, which include the cost of accommodation and living expenses, an internship salary, information technology (IT) equipment and fees. A comprehensive mentorship programme includes the appointment of individual mentors, enrichment outings and life-skills coaching. In addition, the interns become fully integrated into the teaching faculty and all aspects of the academic, pastoral and sporting life at St John’s College. To maintain their link with Orange Farm, they will be expected to spend one week per term as interns at Masibambane College as well.

Matric support

We believe in addressing the needs of the students as expressed by the students. This is why we start each year with an anonymous survey, which gives students the opportunity to inform us of their most pressing challenges so that the support we offer will be of value to them. In response to their needs, we have put in place the initiatives listed below. Each of these is reviewed on an annual basis:

• Study room: We have created a safe study area for matrics at Masibambane College, where they can work and interact with their peers until 18:00.

• FAMSA: The Family Life Centre (FAMSA) meets with the Grade 10s, 11s and 12s at Masibambane College, to chat to them about puberty, pregnancy, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as relationships, life choices and general teenage matters.4

• Career Day: We offer a comprehensive career guidance day at Masibambane College. Last year, over 500 students attended the day, which included exhibitors ranging from tertiary study institutions and corporate and professional careers to jobs that do not require university degrees.

• Aptitude tests: Comprehensive aptitude tests are offered to matric internship candidates. Individual feedback sessions provide the students with a better understanding of their own strengths and abilities.

• Motivational speaker programme:We source interesting, successful and motivational people to share their stories of hope and growth with all the Masibambane students on a regular basis.

• Study schools: During school holidays, the matric internship candidates spend a week at St John’s, where they receive additional academic tuition. During this time, they also sit in on academic, cultural and sports lessons at St John’s to gain some insight into teaching.

• Mentoring: Our mentoring programme offers support to the students without removing their own accountability or interfering with the efforts of their teachers. Mentees are guided to use internet resources to teach them independent research and problem-solving skills. Social, personal and emotional problems are referred to professional psychologists, and coaching on goal-setting is offered by a professional life coach.

• GIBS Business School Bizschool Programme: Candidates are given the opportunity to attend the GIBS Business School’s Bizschool Programme, where they are taught selfawareness, workplace readiness (e.g. preparing a curriculum vitae, interview skills and workplace conduct) and adult life skills such as time management, public speaking, personal finances and entrepreneurial skills.5

Extending our reach

Quality education from Grade 0 to Grade 12 will provide us with quality interns, who in turn will become great teachers. We support Masibambane College as a school of excellence by introducing other programmes to the school when we can, such as:

• The flourishing school: Students are taught perseverance, social intelligence, curiosity, resilience, self-control and the ability to harness their inner strengths to handle life’s ups and downs. These skills improve students’ academic achievement and their ability to thrive at university, in jobs and in their relationships in and outside of school.

• One Laptop per Child: Masibambane is the first school in Africa to benefit from this internationally acclaimed programme, whereby students are provided with laptops and teachers are given the relevant training and support to aid reading and other areas of the syllabus.6

• Other internships: We introduce other internships to the school where we can, so that the matrics who may not want to become teachers are also offered access to sustainable alternative careers.

Reaping rewards

In 2013, Masibambane College celebrated a 100% matric pass rate, with 92% of students achieving an university exemption. The first four interns to receive internship bursaries – Sifiso Adams, Nomthandazo Xulu, Faith Ralane and Shingirai Mudima – have already established themselves as enthusiastic, hardworking and delightful teachers-in-training in all aspects of campus life at St John’s College. Each one reports tremendous personal growth, ranging from overcoming the fear of speaking in public, learning how to swim, improving IT skills and managing their own bank accounts to interacting with adults and children from all walks of life.

Looking ahead

The impact that a good teacher has on his or her students, and the resulting ripple effect through their lives and throughout their communities, cannot be overstated. Every year, we hope to offer at least four students the chance to study a teaching degree. However, we have placed no limitation on our output. The reach of the St John’s–Masibambane Teacher Internship Programme can and will be as wide as financial and human resources allow. Masibambane means ‘let us hold hands together’. We invite anyone interested in our programme (schools, individuals or businesses) and who feels they can make a contribution, be it financial or otherwise, to talk to us about partnership opportunities. Let us hold hands to sustain our schools, our students and our country.

Our research revealed that in the current tough fiscal environment, school principals and superintendents1 feel they are being forced to provide greater levels of service with fewer resources.

Indeed, expectations are increasing for schools as high-profile outcome criteria like adequate yearly progress (AYP) continue to rise while cuts are affecting services that could benefit many students. One principal explained, “We are expected to do more and more with less and less, and the challenges are not getting any less while societal pressures on staff and students increase.” Another said, “NCLB2 nails us with AYP, yet we can’t provide programming to overcome the challenges.” Principals consistently commented on the growing levels of stress and concern while having to do more with less.

Cuts affect all

Principals were clear that anyone who thinks that all cuts – no matter where they’re focused – don’t affect classrooms, doesn’t really understand the culture of schools. Note this explanation one principal provided:

“It is impossible to make cuts in a district and not have it impact teachers and students. We cut a secretary and many tasks are now falling to teachers. This takes up their precious time to prepare for students. We cut a technology integration person, and now teachers are having to spend more time researching web sites and online projects. It has further added to our already reduced office staff.”

Tornadoes of negativity

Though some principals reported that staff have rallied together due to budget cuts, most were very concerned about the negativity the cuts had generated. One commented, “I felt attacked by teachers who believed I played a role in decisions.” Another principal summed it up this way: “I had typically reasonable people telling me that they weren’t going to do their job… I feel we have taken a huge step backwards in our communication, trust, and cooperation.”

Serious stress

In response to a question about health, 70% of principals polled for our research used the term stress. One typical comment: “I don’t sleep at night. I get little exercise. I don’t take vacations because I think I shouldn’t. I don’t spend quality time with my family.” Another told us, “More stress has caused headaches, backaches, anxiety, and sleeplessness.”

The new normal for superintendents

Superintendents reported that much of the reform and innovative work underway in their districts had ceased. Cuts had forced them to focus on basic processes and nothing more. Faculty and staff were notably concerned about the future. One superintendent summed up the theme this way: “Innovation has almost ground to a halt. You can’t push forward with new innovations without the funding to see them through. Everyone has an opinion about what should be cut and that causes relationship problems.”

Dealing with disappointment

Superintendents voiced a common theme of disappointment with how significant numbers of individuals – both in the district and beyond – responded to the tough budget climate and potential cuts. In the districts, superintendents reported: “No one wants to believe we have to make cuts. Individuals are territorial and defensive.” Externally, much dismay was voiced about legislators and how they dealt with schools. One superintendent was… scathing, talking about “the complete ignorance and self-serving attitude of many legislators… who only want to get themselves re-elected …” This superintendent concluded, “I am shocked that more of our state leaders don’t demonstrate leadership at a crucial time when it is needed.”

Joyless jobs

A large number of superintendents talked about how awful the job was becoming and how retirement or other types of work are becoming very appealing. One superintendent’s comments vividly expressed this sentiment: “I am very discouraged in my job. I have always prided myself in doing everything possible to provide for the learning of all children. For the first time in my career, I cannot do this any longer.”

A brave face

Leaders often believe they must appear calm and collected during difficult times. Leaders with such a conception of their role must show they are strong. So, it’s no surprise that superintendents talked about their own behaviour in these terms. One explained, “You have to work hard not to get caught up in the emotion. You have to be the calm in the storm.”

Ways to survive

The principals and superintendents we worked with also suggested ways to cope with periods of fiscal strain. Part of the formula is dispositional, part personal, and the rest is actionoriented. First, principals and superintendents adopted a ‘cando’ attitude even in the face of difficult budgetary decisions. On one of the scales we used in our survey, both principals and superintendents reported strong responses to questions about finding their way out of a jam, solving problems and energetically pursuing their goals. A superintendent summed it up well: “I have not taken any of the concerns personally even though I have been frustrated. I try to be very positive and focus on what we can provide not what we cannot provide.”

Take care

Second, we were consistently told about the importance of taking care of yourself. For some, this meant exercising more, watching sleep patterns, eating properly and making time for family and friends. For others, it involved creating support networks so they aren’t isolated and have colleagues to interact with. But the theme was clear: find ways to take care of your health by creating work and home environments that can help you deal with the job-created stress. Some talked about the balance that must be created. A superintendent concluded, “I leave the issues of my job at the job when I leave in the evening.”

Rein in rumours

Finally, a specific set of actions were identified, including planning and maintaining clear communication and transparency throughout a budget-cutting process. One principal talked about “planning for the worst case scenario”. Others talked about bringing in interested and potentially affected parties to brainstorm possible solutions. Superintendents emphasised the importance of complete information and getting the facts straight. One said, “It is never too early to have contingency plans in place.” Everyone emphasised the importance of ongoing communication. The grapevine was described as inaccurate and potentially damaging. Rumour control is best handled with open and consistent communication. As one superintendent told us, “Communication is vital. All budget cuts affect an individual. All budget cuts affect the quality of education.” Another concluded, “For success, various entities must be involved and collaboration must occur.”

Final thoughts

Principals and superintendents are dealing with tough budgetrelated decisions. The economic outlook for the foreseeable future in most states is bleak. Tending to the health-related and emotional needs of administrators makes sense, given their crucial role in leading schools and districts. Our data suggests that school leaders are a resilient breed, but areas of concern are emerging. This appears more significant for superintendents than principals, though both groups are clearly impacted. Given the climate of growing federal and state pressure on student performance, finding ways to help leaders personally navigate difficult economic conditions seems paramount.

References:

1. In education in the United States, a superintendent of schools, also known in many states as a chief school administrator, is a person who has executive oversight and administrative powers, usually within an educational entity or organisation. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superintendent_(education).)

2. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is a United States Act of Congress that supports standards-based education reform, based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. To receive federal school funding, states must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Child_Left_Behind_Act.)

]]>https://www.ieducation.co.za/leading-through-a-fiscal-nightmare-the-impact-on-principals-and-superintendents-part-two/feed/0Tamping down the rhetoric on school choicehttps://www.ieducation.co.za/tamping-down-the-rhetoric-on-school-choice/
https://www.ieducation.co.za/tamping-down-the-rhetoric-on-school-choice/#respondTue, 24 Jun 2014 12:47:52 +0000http://www.ieducation.co.za/?p=4477By David Cutler

Rational minds can differ on most issues, but trouble arises when disagreement morphs into unproductive disdain.

Unfortunately, with respect to education, the latter has occurred more frequently in recent months. As we venture into a more uncertain future, one which will become all the more disrupted by online technologies, it’s crucial that all educators address and attempt to reverse a surge of inflamed rhetoric. If not, I fear that all schools – public, charter and private alike – will suffer.1

Inflamed rhetoric Since the early fall of 2013, at least three major American publications have come out vilifying school choice rather than fostering constructive dialogue on the issue – much less focusing on how to help all students succeed. Any legitimate criticism advanced by the authors of these works is tainted by one fact – they pick fights rather than build bridges.

1. In August 2013, Slate online magazine posted a blistering condemnation by one of its managing editors, Allison Benedikt, entitled ‘If you send your kid to private school, you are a bad person’. The article has over 66 thousand ‘likes’ on Facebook, and its bold title leaves nothing to the imagination: “You are a bad person if you send your children to private school. Not bad like murderer bad – but bad like ruining-one-of-our-nation’s-most-essentialinstitutions- in-order-to-get-what’s-best-for-your-kid bad. So, pretty bad,” Benedikt writes.2

2. In September 2013, Diane Ravitch, former US assistant secretary of education, released her newest book, Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools.3 Ravitch derides school choice as an outright attack on the public system, while also accusing education reformers of a “deliberate effort to replace public education with a privately managed, freemarket system of schooling”.

3. Recently, Christopher and Sarah Lubienski, professors at the University of Illinois, released an equally charged book, The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools.4 They argue that there is “danger in private school autonomy”, especially with respect to state standards not applying to professional certification and accountability. In a Washington Post story about their work, they also write how this “autonomy is too often used to maintain outdated strategies that may align with parental preferences but are not particularly effective for educating students”.5

I don’t doubt that these authors are passionate about their work, that they have important thoughts to share (regardless of one’s views) and, most importantly, that each is entirely capable of less inflammatory rhetoric. Not long ago, I asked Christopher Lubienski how he and his wife conducted their research – and to what extent, if any, he thinks private and public schools could or should work together. “Professional collaboration is a wonderful thing with potential benefits for both types of schools and, more importantly, for the students,” he writes. “But as we put schools into more competitive conditions, opportunities for such collaboration diminish. Moreover, for-profit schools have even less incentive to enter into such relationships.” It’s this softer tone that has more potential to foster dialogue.

Reasons for inflamed rhetoric

Still, it’s important to recognise that the inflamed rhetoric has arisen from significant developments with school choice.

To gain deeper insight, I also spoke with John Chubb, new president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). America’s public school system once served around 90% of students, he says, noting that the remainder enrolled as part of a private school system – comprising religious, traditional and independent schools.

But something changed this dynamic in the 1990s, when the nation began passing charter school legislation – allowing for a new, independent set of schools to enter the marketplace. “What happened over the last 20 years is that the happy, historical coexistence of public and private schools has been disrupted by the introduction of charter schools,” Chubb says. “Now, the percentage of families that are choosing alternatives to public schools is approaching 15%. In addition to that, we have online schooling that is growing rapidly… We have home-schooling that’s been growing. That’s 1.8 million students.”

In the coming years, Chubb says, there will be more choice and more competition – especially with online education continuing to disrupt the traditional school system.

“The system will become more dynamic,” he says. “I believe that ultimately, all schools will be stronger for it.” I agree with Chubb, and I also understand why his prediction might alarm some in the public school sector. As choice develops and becomes more attractive, fewer students will enrol in public schools, and this could have countless repercussions for teachers and, in a very real sense, how students learn.

How to overcome inflamed rhetoric But rather than add to the antagonism, I urge all educators, from all types of schools, to refocus their energies on how amicable collaboration can better benefit students – regardless of where they choose to enrol. How can we accomplish this? Share, share and share some more:

1. Share on Twitter: I teach at an independent school, and while I receive more responses from NAIS members, I’m delighted when my tweets also stimulate public school educators like John Bergmann, an innovator of the ‘flipped classroom’ model.6

2. Share on Edmodo: Edmodo has the largest online teacher sharing community.7 I post all of my stories here.

3. Share on a blog: Blogging has allowed me to connect with dozens of talented public school educators, all of whom I’ve learned from to become a better independent day school teacher. I’m most grateful to Rick Wormeli, one of America’s first national board certified teachers. He also wrote the most impactful book I’ve ever read, Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom.8 On several occasions, he has also provided me with feedback on articles. Our relationship exemplifies the best of what’s possible when all types of teachers collaborate.

Use improved rhetoric to prepare for more disruption

A fruitful sharing of ideas today should prepare educators for far greater disruption tomorrow. About a year ago, I first spoke with Curtis J. Bonk, professor of instructional systems technology at Indiana University and author The World is Open: How Technology is Revolutionizing Education.9 “I think kids in 20 years are going to walk into school and… hit a map… they might even pick their teachers for the day coming from Philippines and Singapore and other places.”

Bonk’s predications are slowly becoming reality. I recently learned about the three-year-old Global Online Academy (GOA),10 whose mission statement speaks to how technology can and should foster a brighter teaching and learning environment:

“The mission of the Global Online Academy is to replicate in online classrooms the intellectually rigorous programmes and excellent teaching that are hallmarks of its member schools; to foster new and effective ways, through best practices in online education, for students to learn; and to promote students’ global awareness and understanding by creating truly diverse, worldwide, online schoolroom communities.”

I spoke recently with GOA director Michael Nachbar, who explained an intricate teacher-training programme, which requires intense online coursework for potential hires to learn and gain experience with managing an online class. At the end of that initial six-week period, successful recruits travel to Seattle, Washington, where the company is based, to experience a week-long summer workshop. I’m equally in awe of The Online School for Girls (OSG),11 which opened its virtual doors in 2009. I reached out to OSG director Brad Rathgeber, who says that he wanted to help create a growing consortium that afforded easy entry for any school that shared OSG’s vision for girls’ education and online learning. “The growth has been pretty tremendous on the student front. We also have a pretty robust student summer programme that enrols… kids over the summer to take courses,” he says. “On the other side, we also have a professional development programme that has grown pretty dramatically too, as we’ve tried to help faculty members engage with tenets of online and blended learning and give them an avenue to explore that field and to engage with it.”

Collaboration is key

As online learning communities grow, so too will the disruption in every education sector. No school systems will remain unchanged. All teachers must collaborate on how to adapt to quickly changing circumstances, and how best to prepare students for a world where essential skills are ever-changing. This may mean having to drastically rethink how to fund and structure tomorrow’s schools. But complacency, or worse still, indignation, directed at any school system will only stall that progress.

Some 10% of kindergartens, elementary schools, high schools, technical colleges, trade schools and colleges in Hungary belong to the Association of Hungarian Independent Schools (AHIS), founded in Budapest in April 1992.

Its founder chairperson was György Várhegyi, who believed strongly in the need for a new kind of professionally trained teacher. Várhegyi also believed that parents had the right to choose a particular kind of education for their children. Presently, the AHIS board comprises 15 presidency members, a three-member ethical committee and a threemember supervising committee. The AHIS operates openly as a prominent public benefit organisation and does not participate in political activities.

Open to all

Membership of the AHIS is open to any educational institution that is maintained by legal entities, private individuals or nongovernmental and non-clerical organisations or foundations that agree with its aims, accept and enforce its constitution and ethical codex, whose joining the association is accepted by the presidium and who then pays the membership fees. The AHIS board judges the results of a self-evaluation process and awards the title of ‘Qualified School/Kindergarten of the Association of Hungarian Independent Schools’ to worthy institutions.

What does the AHIS offer?

The AHIS creates opportunities for schools to find out about various issues concerning them such as teaching methods, school administration and curricula. It also provides a forum for schools and other stakeholders to discuss and solve their legal, judicial, professional and financial problems. It advocates the interests of independent schools and communicates to them views and suggestions on laws-in-progress concerning their activities, and protects member schools from any kind of discriminatory interference from government.

The AHIS also regularly organises conferences, forums, meetings and other professional programmes in accordance with the demands of its members. On these occasions, members can discuss current professional problems such as official controls, educational law, pedagogical programmes, the organisational and advocacy work of the AHIS and the rights and roles of independent schools.

The Independent Pedagogical Institute

The AHIS also founded and maintains the Independent Pedagogical Institute, which started its work in October 2001. It offers general services such as professional counsel, monitoring, evaluation and training, as well as initiating innovative education developments and publicly representing professional autonomy.

Working for the rights of independent schools The AHIS is intent on reviving traditions, such as music teaching (in Hungary, the only form of private teaching allowed during the socialist era was music) and advocating the adaptation of reputable alternative methodologies such as Waldorf, Montessori or Rogers pedagogies and cooperative and differentiated teaching methods. The AHIS also represents the legal and financial interests of its member schools to protect their rights to equality, emancipation and equal opportunity. Currently, private education has nothing to do with public education, although private schools must teach the compulsory National Curriculum. A few public schools have implemented some of the alternative pedagogical methods the AHIS advocates, such as child-centredness, self-evaluation, differentiated work in class and collaborative teaching and learning.

ECNAIS and others

The AHIS also works towards garnering international respect for its member schools by advocating the need for organised improvement and best practice in schools. To this end, we are a member of independent educational organisations such as the European Council of National Associations of Independent Schools (ECNAIS).1We also urge our member schools to foster positive connections with both national and international professional education organisations.

Current economic conditions have led to the AHIS creating a solidarity fund to support its members’ financial activities where necessary, by granting credit or by other appropriate support.

The freedom to choose

A range of previous research suggests that pupils achieve more, and better, at independent schools. In an overview of European research, Dronkers (2004) concludes that this is the case in Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Scotland, and to some lesser extent in Germany.2 It was Milton Friedman who famously said, “Choice produces competition. Competition produces quality.”3 At the AHIS, we believe that offering parents the freedom to choose where they want to school their children is a powerful tool for improving educational service.

One of the problems facing South Africa is the high dropout rate at tertiary institutions.1

Many students who complete matric are not ready to cope with the challenges of further study. Even those who have gained distinctions in the national examinations for school leavers often experience difficulty adjusting to the rigorous demands of university courses, due to the gap between their emotional and academic maturity and the level of these attributes required to excel at further studies. The gap between secondary school and university is also vast. Often, inadequate preparation at secondary school for tertiary studies is directly connected to high university dropout rates.2 International Pre-University College (IPC) is a unique college and ISASA member situated near Sandton in Johannesburg, Gauteng. It provides a crucial service to independent education in this country, successfully bridging these gaps by providing secondary school learners with all the skills, direction and qualifications they need to prepare for, and succeed at, university. In this way, we truly are a ‘world-class bridge to tertiary education’ – a motto we cherish.

Helping youth with demands of tertiary education

The college empowers young people to cope with the rigorous demands of further study, with a particular emphasis on enhancing mathematics, science and business skills. We provide for small classes with personalised attention in a structured academic environment, and extend our care to our unique ‘Homestay’ boarding programme. Due to this unique arrangement, the college continues to attract students from many different countries and backgrounds. Our Homestay mothers and fathers provide a wonderful support system for students away from home, and become actively involved in the studies and daily lives of the students in their care.

As a Cambridge International Examinations Centre, IPC offers the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and AS and A Level courses that enable students to qualify for matriculation exemption.3 These courses are not only accepted at South African universities, but are recognised internationally. Students may enter the programme at the age of 15 at IGCSE level, with the intention of then proceeding with AS and A Level courses. A one-year postmatric programme is also available, to improve chances of university acceptance or to offer students a year in which to develop and grow at their own pace to ensure ease of functioning and academic achievement at university. A team of incredible staff with extensive experience in their teaching subjects is at the helm. Our students are at the core of our activities, and the passion and determination of our staff allows us to hone and foster the needs of our students to help them become successful in the real world.

Individualised learning programmes at IPC

A unique aspect of IPC is that we do not put students into grades. When students enter the college, they are assessed in every subject and attend classes at an appropriate level. They also have a comprehensive psychometric evaluation and career assessment by qualified educational psychologists. Each student has a unique timetable tailored around strengths and weaknesses. This enables them to develop at their own rate in each subject, and they are only entered for examinations once they are assessed by the staff and are prepared and ready. This reduces the pressure on the student and reduces examination anxiety. This process results in a staged assessment tailored specifically to suit each student in every subject.

An important history

IPC has a rather interesting background. It started at St Stithians College in Randburg, Johannesburg, while I was teaching the sciences there some years ago. We began our postmatric programme in 1989, initially offering Unisa first-year courses.4 The Unisa programme was initially adequate, but we soon realised that we were limiting our intake to students who were not necessarily university material. Some of the Unisa first-year courses were also not recognised by other universities, so the search for more suitable curricula began. We eventually began the Cambridge International A Level programme in 2000, and so our Cambridge International Centre ZA 013 was born as St Stithians A Level College. The college was awarded fellowship status and became a University of Cambridge International Examinations Fellowship Centre in 2003.5

We never doubted our decision to follow the Cambridge International curriculum, and this programme has been my passion ever since.

Students from other African countries such as Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Nigeria, who apply to universities in South Africa with their matric equivalent qualifications, are often not accepted, so the IPC has always created the ideal home for them to achieve matriculation exemption for entry to our universities. Students who have begun their IGCSE studies in Namibia, Zambia and Botswana need to continue to AS Levels before entering our universities, and so we have been able to attract these students as well.

In 2008, Centre ZA 013 moved away from St Stithians College and joined Sekolo sa Borokgo,6 and was renamed SSB Pre-University College. Under SSB, the college flourished and grew until the need for expansion became apparent. In January 2013, the college was bought by a consortium of our teachers and their family members, and we were able to move to bigger premises and develop the laboratory facilities. The college became independent and we subsequently changed the name to International Pre-University College.

Multiple benefits at IPC

Students from as many as 20 countries have completed their Cambridge A Level studies in our centre. Many of these students have used AS Levels to qualify for matriculation exemption, which has enabled them to complete their studies either at South African universities or abroad. Some of our past students who have achieved superior grades in full A Levels have been awarded advanced credits in certain courses at universities in South Africa and the United States. This has resulted in them being given exemption from the first year of university study. Superior grades in carefully chosen Cambridge International A Level subjects can result in up to one full year of credit. One example is Kyla Mills, who is our psychology lecturer and student supervisor. After completing matric, she joined us for the accelerated one-year A Level programme. Her A Level grades allowed her to enter the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and proceed directly into second year in psychology and English literature. She is in the process of completing her Master’s degree in psychology.

Wherever one wants to go, locally or internationally, Cambridge International qualifications can help to make it happen. In the US, the qualifications are accepted at over 400 higher education centres including Harvard, Yale and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Another one of our past students, Nicholas Kögl, joined us in 2008 for the accelerated one-year A Level programme. This year, he graduated from Harvard University in Boston with an average of 92% (with philosophy as a major) and has been accepted at Cambridge College to study an MPhil in business management. Students are also accepted into leading universities in Canada, India, Pakistan, New Zealand and universities in the European Union.

While we don’t want to encourage the ‘brain drain’ from South Africa, it is a harsh reality that places are limited in our national universities for courses such as medicine and engineering, so our curriculum makes it possible for students to study medical degrees in, for example, Latvia, Cuba, Cyprus and Mauritius, and engineering degrees in the United Kingdom and India.

We find Cambridge International AS and A Levels very flexible as they allow us to offer almost any combination of a wide array of subjects. Students have the freedom to follow either a broad course of study or to specialise in a particular area. The content is multicultural and includes many countryspecific courses – for example, it is possible to write isiZulu and Afrikaans through Cambridge International.

The Cambridge system also provides a world-class support service for teachers and examination officers, offering a wide range of teacher materials to member schools, plus teacher training (online and face-to-face), expert advice and learner support materials. Exam officers can trust in the reliable, efficient administration of exam entries and excellent personal support and customer services.

Learning for life

International Pre-University College is an exceptional institution that produces not only exceptional students but exceptional people. With the help of the standards laid out by Cambridge International Examinations, our students not only develop understanding and knowledge essential for further study, but also independent learning and constructive thinking skills that help them become independent learners and equip them for life.

In 1993, a number of members of the Howick Methodist Church (HMC) had the vision to provide an early childhood development programme to learners from poor communities in the greater Howick district in KwaZulu-Natal.

Over the following 15 years, the preschool grew and flourished at the ‘Old Parsonage’ on the HMC property. In 2008, the school increased in size dramatically when Brentwood United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee, generously purchased a property consisting of three classrooms, restrooms, offices and a hall for the development of a primary school at 90 Main Street in Howick. To meet the requirements for registration with the Department of Education, a suitable ablution block was then added to the school. In late 2010, the HMC was asked to accommodate 120 learners from Merit Christian School, run singlehandedly by Joyce Ntuli out of a derelict shed in Howick. Luckily, further funding was attained and three more classrooms were built.

Tembelihle takes off

Having incorporated Merit Christian School, Tembelihle Primary School was now able to offer grades 1 to 4. Space was a key challenge at this time: a large class of children from grades 3 and 4 learnt together in a single classroom. At the end of 2010, further funding from local and international donors enabled the school to build an additional classroom and library. At this time, the school governing body (SGB) decided to have one class in each grade from Grade RRR to Grade 7. This meant that children could remain at the school until the end of primary school. It also meant there would be sufficient classroom space for our 300 learners and 11 qualified teachers.

Wacky Wednesdays enliven the working week

The day at Tembelihle always starts with a prayer at ‘line up’. As a Methodist church school, we believe Christian standards should be upheld, but support all learners of other faiths. The day is busy, with subject teaching interspersed with remedial assistance and our volunteer reading programme. Our more senior learners enjoy interactive teaching and the popular ‘Wacky Wednesday’ – a concept based on the Sugata Mitra1 philosophy of self-learning. On Wednesdays, our learners are given the opportunity to discover knowledge by means of investigation and experimentation. They learn all sorts of things, from how baby nappies work to Newtonian fluids!

Our day ends with our 14:00–15:00 time slot, during which each learner gets to play a sport and participate in a club of their choice, including chess, sewing, newspaper literacy, puzzles, exercise dancing and an environmental club. We strive to enhance the learning experience by giving our learners a chance to participate in activities that they may not be able to do in their homes, many of which are located in informal settlements in and around Howick such as Shiabizali, above the Howick Falls.

Sponsoring as many as possible

The people from these communities are largely unemployed and our learners sometimes do not have access to running water, electricity or sanitation in their homes. Some of our children are orphans whose parents died of Aids-related illnesses, and they now live with aged grandparents who survive on a small old-age pension. The SGB tries to find sponsorship for as many of these disadvantaged children as possible, who are among the thousands who cannot find placement in public schools in the Howick area. This ongoing action is part of our relationship-building with other public and independent schools in our area.

Creating strong ties in our community enables us to fulfil our mission to make a positive difference in the lives of underprivileged children in the Howick community. The school works with the Department of Social Welfare to provide a nutritious lunch for all of the pre-primary school children. Due to a very generous donation from a company in the USA, from the start of the second term this year, all primary school children will be receiving a nutritional supplement, a sandwich and fruit every day.

Various successes

Music also provides sustenance. Indeed, it is for us ‘the food of love’.2 The Tembelihle Choir was started in 2011 by John Tungay, the founder of the Drakensberg Boys’ School choir, with a group of 24 talented children between the ages of eight and 12 years. Some of the choir’s notable performances include singing a challenging programme of classical music with combined adult choirs from Durban, Pietermaritzburg and the Midlands under the baton of well-known Johannesburg conductor, Richard Cock. Following these performances, some of the children were invited to attend the Royal School of Church Music Summer Schools3 in 2013 and 2014. The Tembelihle children shone among choirboys and girls from all parts of South Africa, and one of the children – a young boy from an extremely poor family in Howick – received the prestigious award of top chorister. Tembelihle is proud to have joined the Eco-Schools Programme4 and is currently receiving assistance with our projects through the Midlands Meander Education Project,5 as well as from the local branch of the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (WESSA).6 In 2013, we decided to enhance the standard of education offered at the school through the introduction of technology, in the form of laptops for teachers and data projectors. Teacher training has been provided by SchoolNet,7 a not-for-profit organisation that provides information technology integration for teachers and education managers. We are delighted to soon be partnering with SchoolNet in an initiative supported by Microsoft, to explore the use of tablets and Xbox Kinect to further enhance the academic performance of our younger learners, thereby making learning more interactive and fun!

Money matters

Other teacher training is encouraged. Two of our preschool teachers initially began as cleaners at the school and have subsequently qualified as proficient and dedicated teachers.

Whilst the school is currently well structured and resourced we face numerous challenges.

Funding for capital improvements at the school and the development and implementation of teaching and learning programmes is limited. We also cannot pay our teachers what they would receive from better-resourced schools in our surrounds. Thus, sadly, often our younger teachers use the school as a stepping stone to a better-salaried position elsewhere. Our aim is to minimise staff turnover and weld together a team that has one vision and mission. The first step is to ‘add value’ to the experience of teaching at Tembelihle. This means making the experience of teaching a pleasurable one by meeting individual needs where possible. Often, also, committed teachers here tell tales of the inherent joy they discover on a daily basis.

For example, it was noticed that a young Grade 2 boy turned his head away each time his teacher was speaking, and she realised he was hard of hearing, turning to catch some sound with his better ear. An audiologist supplied the child with a hearing aid free of charge and later that day during the singing lesson, his teacher caught a look of pure delight and amazement on his face as he heard the sound of music for the first time in his life!

Another challenge is that of space. We have very little communal teaching space and a tiny playground that needs to be shared by all. The local municipality has recently granted us access to a large piece of land which thanks to a local earth moving company, we have levelled and grassed for use as a sports field. We celebrated a few weeks ago with an action packed sports day which was thoroughly enjoyed by the children, parents and staff.

Independent status a driving force

As we confront our challenges every day, we are reminded of the value of independence. We decide which learners to enrol at the school, which teachers to appoint and we control the governance and the financial status of the school. We are able to implement our philosophy of education, while still working closely with the Department of Education to provide a solid foundation for our learners.

It was, in fact, when we registered with the Department of Education that we became aware of ISASA and the benefits we could derive from being a member school. One of these was an Early Childhood Development Conference held at Cowan House which our teachers were delighted to be able to attend. Membership of ISASA will help us remain committed to ‘the pursuit of excellence’.8

References:
1. See, for example: https://solesandsomes.wikispaces.com/A+bit+about+SOLE+%26+SOME.
2. Shakespeare, W. (1997) Twelfth Night, or, What You Will. New York: Dover Publications.
3. The Eco-Schools Programme is an international programme of the Foundation of Environmental Education (FEE) and is active in 51 countries around the world. (Source: http://www.wessa.org.za/what-wedo/ eco-schools.htm.)
4. See: http://www.rscm.com/.
5. See: http://www.midlandsmeander.co.za/social-responsibility.
6. See: http://www.wessa.org.za.
7. See: http://www.schoolnet.org.za/.
8. This commitment is part of the school’s mission statement.

]]>https://www.ieducation.co.za/a-hunger-for-learning-in-howick-tembelihle-primary-school-joins-isasa/feed/0New hope in Jordanhttps://www.ieducation.co.za/new-hope-in-jordan/
https://www.ieducation.co.za/new-hope-in-jordan/#respondTue, 24 Jun 2014 10:10:17 +0000http://www.ieducation.co.za/?p=4469Zaatari is the biggest Syrian refugee camp in Jordan, ‘home’ to more than 90 000 occupants – more than half of them children, whose schooling has been disrupted due to conflict in their home country. Only three schools operate, on a haphazard schedule, in the camp. For many, just getting to one of these institutions poses a threat to life and limb.

Famous Syrian actor and director Nawar Boulboul recently brought a different kind of education experience to Zaatari’s youngsters; labelled ‘Syria’s lost generation’ because they have been ‘absent’ from school for more than three years.

Boulboul, renowned for his social activism as much as his appearances on Syrian television, set up a simple tent in the camp and started rehearsing scenes from Shakespeare’s plays with his troupe.

Steadily, curious children joined in scenes specially adapted for them. Boulboul has struggled to keep his programme going with sporadic funding, but has taught the children that all a great actor needs is imagination. The goal of the programme was a free public performance on World Theatre Day, on 27 March 2014, to draw attention to the plight of children around the world affected by war. Adds Boulboul: “Our programme builds children’s literacy and social skills, and provides them with a safe space to discuss and understand their feelings of loss, fear, isolation, and anger through the universal themes of Shakespeare’s works.”

On performance day, 100 young Syrian refugees made their professional acting debuts in shortened versions of Hamlet and King Lear in front of a crowd of thousands. Explaining that the children had been involved in every aspect of the production, an emotional Boulboul said: “I wanted to show that these children are not worthless… that they have something real to contribute.” Significantly, both plays deal with exile, leaders losing touch with reality and countries divided by rivalry.

It was the great painter Henri Matisse1 who inspired the title of this article and its content.

Many ISASA schools choose to write the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) examinations. The IEB is “an assessment body… accredited by Umalusi, the South African statutory body responsible for quality assurance for school and adult assessments. The IEB offers external assessment in accordance with legislation… for schools registered with it at Grade 9 and Grade 12, at which point successful learners are awarded the National Senior Certificate…”2 One of the IEB’s core principles is that teachers are a school’s greatest resource. “Hence… [they] need a voice in how the [national curriculum] is developed, interpreted and assessed. As professionals they need support, stimulation and encouragement. Above all, they need to be part of a vibrant ‘community of practice’.”3

Come to a cluster group meeting Such communities are called ‘cluster groups’ and work at local levels so that teachers may regularly collaborate and share ideas. IEB visual arts cluster group meetings in Gauteng are attended by more than 70 teachers, whose schools support the importance of the visual arts in developing a well-rounded and balanced pupil. This notion is reinforced by the fact that many teachers leave each meeting with a wealth of new lesson ideas, image ‘e-banks’, booklets and PowerPoint presentations.

‘Show and Tell’ showcases the work being done in schools, and teachers freely discuss challenges and handy hints when teaching visual arts lessons. Guest speakers are invited to inspire and enrich the visual arts teachers by addressing topics ranging from using Williams Taxonomy to Assess Creativity,4 to deciding what skills require assessment and how to assess such subjective material in a constructive way. Assessment is no longer about the finished product or composition, but rather about the techniques, processes and skills used to create the artwork.

Generous donations from suppliers ScolaQuip and Jovi At the recent visual arts IEB Gauteng cluster group meeting held at St Benedict’s Preparatory School in Johannesburg, each art teacher was challenged to participate in activities that our pupils are expected to attempt.

Nervously, we all set about the tasks and were exposed to the same difficulties and experiences confronted by our pupils. ScolaQuip and Jovi generously sponsored the materials for our watercolour and clay sessions, with the latter’s brand manager Rehana Moolla conducting a workshop on techniques using the Spanish firm’s highly pigmented watercolour set. The delighted teachers also got their hands dirty crafting minimasterpieces using Jovi’s air-drying clay, after which they were presented with a complimentary bag of product samples.

During the meeting, IEB curriculum experts also gave examples of Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) teaching and learning ideas.5 Mari Coetzee, art teacher at St Benedict’s High School, discussed what skills should be developed in preparation for high school art and gave a spontaneous lesson on drawing a pencil sketch of a gem squash, focusing on shape and light.

Matisse would have found it marvellous Matisse would have been proud of the IEB art teachers who created Durer’s Rhino6 with tin foil and recycled cardboard, monsters using ink and straws, and optical art using Koki pens and recycled CDs, and using different techniques and ideas for painting with watercolours. Thereza Giorza, senior tutor in the arts faculty at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), presented a talk on the philosophy of art to inspire and challenge school art teachers to introduce this to their art lessons.

If you are teaching in an ‘IEB school’ and you feel you’re losing out, reach out to your local IEB cluster group. Visit www.isasa.org or www.ieb.co.za for more details. Pauline Constable is the visual arts IEB Gauteng cluster group coordinator. She also teaches at St Benedict’s Preparatory School in Bedfordview, Johannesburg.

Hilton College, a boy’s boarding school and long-time ISASA member in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, is custodian of a large area of land, part of which has been declared the Hilton College Nature Reserve, used extensively for education and recreation by all grades of boys at the school.

On the reserve are the remains of an early Iron Age settlement, dating from between 650 to 780 AD. An opportunity arose to include this site and its significance into the Grade 8 history curriculum, and the Hilton curriculum development group joined with the history department to develop the project described below.

The project forms part of the school’s history syllabus for Grade 8, and aims to develop the following skills and competencies in the boys: deduction, imagination, original thinking and research. We feel that learning these skills within the context of experience ‘in place’ adds to the applicability of the skills, as well as giving the boys a unique insight into the nation’s early history and the importance of archaeological research in our country. Part of the power of this kind of project is that it highlights the many ways in which South Africans live and work, both now (as archaeologists, for example) and in the past (Iron Age farmers).

From the learner’s perspective, the primary attraction of the activity is probably the idea of detective work, that there are clear clues to the past in a place they often simply walk over, and that there is more to most places than first meets the eye.

Structure

Lesson one – detective activity:

The boys formed small groups, and were given an artefact from the early Iron Age, without any prior knowledge of its context. They had to answer the following questions (and were rewarded for creative thinking rather than historical accuracy): what is it made of, what was it used for, how old is it, and what is it? They were not allowed to do any formal research at this point, instead being required to think up their own responses. This was the hardest part of the entire exercise for most of the group, as many felt uncomfortable with not being able to look up a ready answer on the internet.

Lesson two – a talk to set the context:

A talk, demonstration and series of video clips served to explain where the artefacts had come from, and to give a historical context. My colleagues and I tried to link the early Iron Age to the students’ current lives by using a physical timeline (a two-metre stick they could hold), showing some significant events of the last 2 000 years – the time of Jesus, the arrival of the first farmers in South Africa, the first Nguni language speakers in South Africa, the arrival of the Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz, the reign of the Zulu king Shaka, the year Hilton College was founded, the year they were born, up to the present.

We included footage of iron smelting from a South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) documentary Shoreline,1 interviews with a local archaeologist, real early Iron Age pottery artefacts and plenty of time for questions. These question/answer sessions helped learners enormously to consider how and why people live the way they do, both now and in the past.

They also made powerful cross-curricular links to geography in terms of why people choose to settle where they do, to life orientation in terms of the many ways different cultures over time choose to live and express their world views, and to life sciences through the consideration of how people long ago lived in a way very much defined by natural processes.

Lesson three – site visit:

We took each class (around 23 boys) to the actual site in the nature reserve where the artefacts were found, and gave them a short tour. During the 20 minutes available, we tried to give them an idea of the extent of the settlement, and showed them actual artefacts on the surface of the ground. These included pottery fragments, remains from iron smelting, grindstones and other similar artefacts. (Important note: it is against the law to disturb or move any archaeological artefact in South Africa without permission from the relevant South African government department.)

Lessons four to six – developing a village layout plan:

The groups of boys were tasked with showing and explaining in detail what they thought the early Iron Age settlement would have looked like. To help them in this task we provided several books, artefacts and displays as reference material.

They needed to show on an aerial photograph the extent of the settlement, then use a poster to show how they thought the settlement would have been laid out, explaining their reasons for each component of their layout. The boys were rewarded primarily for their reasoning and explanations for the layout.

This is so that they would have to think carefully about how people live, what they need and how they relate to their physical and social environments. An additional benefit was that the display and other research material were exhibited in the school library, and were thus available for boys in other grades to investigate and learn from.

Results and recommendations

The project took a great deal of planning and preparation, and required intensive monitoring during the process. The boys in general chose to engage well with the process, and staff enjoyed the new material and approach. We will definitely be doing the project again.

Improvements are an inherent part of process-based learning work such as this project, and we plan to improve it by giving the boys another lesson or two for the village layout and explanation portion of the project, as well as by making the marking rubric simpler. This was a thoroughly enjoyable project for staff and boys. It took advantage of a unique opportunity, and made the curriculum more relevant and place-specific.

Its cross-curricular approach was beneficial to the boys’ learning as a whole, and they learnt specific archaeology skills and knowledge – such as the fact that people in the past organised their lives around the same needs as we do now, how to recognise artefacts that are clearly made by people, and the importance of leaving things where they are found.

Turn your students into detectives I have been asked how schools without our facilities might adapt this idea to their circumstances. I would urge them to try, if they have some clear evidence of previous occupation, however long ago. Work with any local historians or museums in your area, and get your students to undertake the fascinating task of recreating the past.

John Roff is involved with environmental education and curriculum development at Hilton College. If you would like to discuss this project and other curriculum development programmes underway at Hilton (the curriculum development team is currently working on a nine-lesson module focusing on musical instruments of the world), contact Roff at e-mail: jr@hiltoncollege.com.

Reference:
1. See: http://www.shorelinesa.co.za/.

]]>https://www.ieducation.co.za/into-the-here-and-now-hilton-college-shares-an-archaeology-project/feed/0Taking it to the teachershttps://www.ieducation.co.za/taking-it-to-the-teachers/
https://www.ieducation.co.za/taking-it-to-the-teachers/#respondTue, 24 Jun 2014 08:42:06 +0000http://www.ieducation.co.za/?p=4452The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest teacher union in the US. It recently asked its members to answer one question: “If you could redesign… school structure… what would the school day, week and year look like?”

The research was part of the ‘Voices, Ideas, Vision, Action (VIVA): NEA Time in School Exchange’ project. Says Dennis van Roekel, NEA president, the study is “empowering” for teachers and its findings should be used to influence education policy in the US. The voices of the polled educators resulted in several ‘actionable ideas’ compiled by a NEA special committee. Respondents were most vocal about the need to add to federal and district policies the voices of communities and families to ensure their civil rights and equity for all students.

Survey respondents also cited a need to change the school calendar to shorten the long summer break. This would enable teachers to not only cover core curricula, but to do so in innovative ways. Many also called for a longer school day, which would include planned time for teacher collaboration and remedial assistance for students with special needs. NEA also found that teachers feel that class sizes must be capped at 25, and that they deserve to be recompensed for working longer hours.

A majority of teachers also called for children to be grouped according to ability and not age, and for the school day to start later to “meet the needs of students’ growth and biological development”. Activities making up the school day should be shifted around for the same purpose, said respondents, many of whom called for extramural activities to start, not end, the school day. Decisions about what to do when should be up to each school, teachers added.

It had a profound impact on my thinking. In the 20-minute presentation, Robinson outlines three principles crucial for the human mind to flourish – namely individualism, curiosity and creativity. He goes on to talk about how mainstream current United States education culture works against these principles. He also says that education is mostly something many teachers labour over and many students have to endure. I realised then why the likes of Professor Matthew Lipman developed and promoted Philosophy for Children.

P4C Lipman created Philosophy for Children, often referred to as P4C, in the late 1960s.2 P4C uses the discipline of philosophy as a resource to help children become more intellectually energetic, curious, critical, creative and reasonable. Lipman and his colleagues believed that there was, and still is, a need in education to develop thinking skills. People ought to be able to think for themselves in the face of competing values, authorities and ‘prescribed solutions’. It’s important to define ‘philosophy’. It comes from the Greek words philos and sophy, and literally means ‘the love of wisdom’.

Thinking about thinking

How then do we go about creating this ‘love of wisdom’? How do we cultivate curiosity, creativity and the opportunity for individuals to think and also share their thinking in a supportive learning environment? Well, we awaken and develop the power of thinking through philosophical inquiry. Introducing philosophy into the classroom has so many advantages.

Here are some we have discovered at Holy Rosary School since we have ‘bought into’ P4C:

• A child’s thinking skills are developed, which we believe is a very important life skill, especially in the Information Age in which we live.

• P4C develops cooperative discussion and teaches children how to respectfully agree and disagree with others’ ideas and opinions.

• Children are encouraged to challenge and question in an established safe and caring space.

• We awaken curiosity during P4C sessions by providing the opportunity to explore questions.

Let’s face it, everyone is trying to convince you of something. Perhaps you are tired of being conned or scared to make a wrong decision. Perhaps you are confused. I know I often feel like this. Thinking critically is a defence against the world of too much information. Philosophy, says Richard Epstein,3 in the context of P4C, is the means to search for wisdom and, in so doing, allow others to do the same.

Finding the way at Holy Rosary

Let me share with you the story of how Holy Rosary School instituted P4C. Staff were most fortunate to learn from Karin Murris, an associate professor at the School of Education at the University of Cape Town. Murris’s methods are based on the principles created by Lipman.

We have also shared a workshop with Sara Stanley, who specialises in creating philosophical worlds in the classroom.4 Using a year-long curriculum, she entices children, aged three to five years, to create a unique journey through one long story.

With my colleagues Diane Horsten and Brenda Pullen, I attended the International Council of Philosophical Inquiry with Children (ICPIC) conference in Cape Town in 2013, where we were introduced to two more inspirational philosophical practitioners – Isabelle Millon, a French philosophy practitioner and the director of the Institut de Pratiques Philosophiques,5 who works with children and teenagers aged four to 18 years; and Peter Worley, who runs The Philosophy Shop in London in the UK.6

We thus had exposure to a range of techniques and methods and took ideas from a range of experts to create a methodology that would work for us in our classrooms.

How we work

A typical P4C session at our school would follow seven steps:

1. A discussion about the ‘rules of engagement’. Setting ground rules for the inquiry – such as taking turns; speaking in a clear voice; not interrupting; listening with eyes, ears and whole body – is paramount. Following these guidelines enables children to feel like they are working in a team and are valued, respected and safe. The teacher’s role is to support thinking, speaking and learning.

3. A discussion around the stimulus, so everyone has a basic understanding.

4. Thinking time and then paired or small group discussion reflecting on the stimulus. At this stage, the children decide on a question that will arise from their discussion pertaining to the stimulus.

5. The class votes and decide on the question or concept most important to the majority.

6. The teacher facilitates the philosophical dialogue by exploring the question.

7. The teacher as facilitator concludes the discussion and checks that everyone who wanted to talk has had the opportunity. If you are willing to be challenged in your classroom, then P4C is for you. Like Socrates, you will be developing ideas and creating wiser, more reflective individuals who embrace a life well-lived.7

Baart, Horsten and Pullen also advise teachers to visit http://www.mindboggles.org.za to f ind out about P4C courses in Johannesburg and http://www.origins.org.za/ for information regarding participation in inquiries run at the Origins Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) on a monthly basis. Educators can also contact P4C expert Cathy Fry at e-mail cathy@ukhanyisoebantwini.co.za.

In November this year, one expert educator on the planet will be awarded the sum of US$1 million. The award is funded by billionaire education entrepreneur and philanthropist Sunny Varkey, and applications are now open at www.globalteacherprize.com.

Varkey founded the Global Education Management System (GEMS), the largest network of private for-profit schools in the world, with 132 schools and 142 000 students across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, China and India. Its foundation is headed by former US president Bill Clinton.

The forum was intended to increased philanthropic contributions to global education. Said Clinton in his keynote address: “Every dollar invested in education returns US$53 to employers through a better qualified, more productive workforce.”